New Cars Make Strong Impact in U.S. News & World Report's 2008 Car Rankings

The 2008 edition of U.S. News & World has been released, and new cars and redesigned models are key players in this year's report. The car manufacturer that had the best improvement for the 2008 report was General Motors. Three of their vehicles led the way for GM. Two of these vehicles were redesigned for 2008 and one was a new model. They were the Chevrolet Malibu, the Buick Enclave, and the Cadillac CTS. Despite these improvements, Honda still dominated the awards winning four categories. This information was provided in a recent press release from U.S. News & World Report.

Two of General Motor's vehicles in the report were redesigned vehicles. They were the Chevy Malibu and the Cadillac CTS. The Chevy Malibu was the sixth ranked midsize car in the report. This was based on the driving dynamics of the Malibu, along with its affordable price and exterior styling. The Cadillac CTS was 4th on the list of the 14 upscale cars, and according to the press release is considered capable of competing with BMW and Lexus vehicles in its class. The Cadillac CTS also was named Motor Trend Vehicle Of The Year for 2008. The Buick Enclave is all-new this year and ranked 3rd out of the 23 midsize sport utility vehicles in the report.

Not all the new vehicles did well though. The Dodge Avenger had a horrible ranking, as it placed last among all 25 vehicles in its category. The Nissan Rogue also was rather unimpressive in its ranking with a second half finish in the rankings for its category. Despite being ranked number one in the report last year, the 2007 Toyota Highlander was redesigned for 2008. The redesigned model failed to retain the number one ranking.

Speaking of number one rankings, Honda won four of the 11 categories and tied for one other. The Accord won the Midsize category, the CR-V won the Compact SUV category, the Honda Pilot took the Midsize SUV category, and the Honda Fit won the Economy category. The Honda S2000 tied with the Mazda MX-5 and the Mazda Speed3 for the Affordable Sports Cars category. Other manufacturers that won multiple categories include BMW and Chevrolet. Lexus and Volkswagen each won one category.